Delved on 4/30/22 and 5/1/22, rested and shopped on 5/2/22, may take actions on 5/3/22.
PCs: Max Bear (barbarian), John Redcorn III (cleric), Raven (assassin)
Hench: None
Dead PCs: Raven, both arms clawed and chewed off by Kobolds.
The first session of our group's run at 1:1 timekeeping BROSR style shenanigans went rather well, considering the circumstances. Our party came together at The Rose, a small inn in the town of New Bridge. Here they met Zillifant the Purple, a quirky bard under Teutch the Alchemist's (Patron) employ, and learned about a very appealing but dangerous job opportunity. They spoke with the innkeeper Max about a rat problem in his cellar and made some quick coin clearing the vermin out and filling in their burrow. They then spoke with Lord Issac de Molay of Riverstride Keep (Patron) and were hired on for a right proper adventure.
Being no novice players, they supplied as best they could with the little coin that they had and marched off to find Farmer Hal and learn about this abandoned mine that was suddenly showing activity. This is where the oracular dice came in. I set % based contingencies based on local environment and then let 'em rip. Turns out the disturbance in the mine had bled onto the surface world. Farmer Hal and his family had been kidnapped!
Now not everyone at the table is 100% on board with the meagre power level and random generation of PCs, but John Redcorn III was born of the Mendicant template, which starts with a trained hunting dog that can track by smell. This allowed our bold heroes to quickly catch the scent and the chase was on.
They followed the trail to the mine, prepped their torches, and delved, Sophie the hound ❤️ taking them straight past several mine shafts directly to a crossroads, where she became confused as the scent was leading in two directions. The party chose to divert into an eastern shaft.
Now again, there were contingences set that any random encounters would be members of the kobold tribe and this was right at the time the first random encounter was rolled. But alas, no hits, no forewarning, and the two sides came together at a T intersection further down the shaft much closer to the enemy den. Battle was joined, some kobolds alerted their superiors, and then it got hairy. Max, Raven, and Sophie rushed to hold the rather narrow hallway against the first wave of kobolds, felling many of them. But it seemed an endless horde was emerging from their den and our veteran players quickly realized this was rapidly becoming unwinnable.
At Max's urging, who was sort of the defacto "caller" of the session, Redcorn and Sophie disengaged from a pile of dead kobolds and fled. Redcorn took to lighting torches and placing them next to the old dried out support beams of the mine shaft in the hope of collapsing them. He was able to set 3 of them as the others began their fighting withdrawal.
Raven was felled and her arms chewed off, but Max heroically grabbed her collar and continued to drag her out. The dice dictated that the shafts began to burn as about half of the kobolds passed the first one and their morale check led to confusion and fear. The heroes escaped and the kobolds were left to their own devices.
They retraced their steps back to the farmhouse then to Riverstride, where Issac, impressed by their bravery and considerate of their losses, healed them, provided burial services for Raven, and offered them a room at the Keep.
It was an interesting session and my first taste of running this style of game. It makes me anxious to not be as intimately familiar with the rules of ACKS as I am of other systems, but it's fun to learn and hang out with my friends. Stay tuned for more!
Total XP Pool: 450
Cuts: 4 total with PCs receiving 2 each.
PC cut: 0%: 225 5%: 236 10%: 248
Hench Cut: 0%: 113 5%: 119 10%: 124
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